F1: Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel dedicates Hungarian win to Jules Bianchi

In the current turbo-era, everyone expects at least a Mercedes to finish on the podium. However, it was not to be, for clashes and driver error have relegated the 2 Silver Arrows to P6 and P8, with Hamilton continuing to extend his championship lead. It was Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel that won the race. The Maranello-based team dominated pretty much from start to finish, either matching or superseding the pace of the hard charging Mercedes and Red Bull cars. For the second race in a row, both Mercedes cars had launch issues, which did not allow them to get off the line quick at all. They were swamped at the start by both Ferraris, which were P1 and 2 before the end of sector 1. Rosberg tried, but failed to get down the inside of Raikkonen, who eventually had to retire as a result of an MGU-K failure. The Hungarian double podium was the first for Red Bull since Singapore last year. It is also Danii Kyvat’s first trip to the podium, and he was understandly elated. Ricciardo believes he may have had a chance to win the race should he not have tangled with the 2 Mercedes cars, which left him with a damaged sidepod and front wing. It was also a good race for Max Verstappen, as he brought his Toro Rosso home in P4. He complained early on that Carlos Sainz, his teammate, was slowing him down, but a stellar drive with clean overtakes was more than enough to make up for the time lost. Sainz, unfortunately, has suffered yet another issue with his powerunit, which put him out of the race.

OneShift Editorial Team

27 Jul 2015

t is a season’s best 5th place for McLaren Honda, as Alonso pilots his MP4-30 to said position. Both McLaren Hondas, who started way down the order, had a relatively quiet race, as the duo consistently chased down and overtaken cars which were supposedly faster. Button also finished in the points in P9.

Tough race for the Mercedes team, as Hamilton crosses the line in P6, and Rosberg in P8. Both cars had a dreadful start, being swamped by the Ferraris and even a Red Bull, but things got worse when a rash move down the outside of Rosberg failed for Hamilton, sending him sailing through the gravel. He recovered, but was relegated to P13, outside of the points. Hamilton struggled to get back up to the points, and did so beautifully, until he tangled with Ricciardo, needed to box to fix damage, and also getting a drive through for said impact. Rosberg, who looked set to finish P2, ended up hitting Ricciardo, puncturing his rear left tyre and having to make a late pitstop, allowing many other cars past.

Grosjean finished 8th for Lotus. The Frenchman drove hard, putting his E23 at the right place at the right time. However, as the chassis was inherently slow, catching up to the others was no mean feat. His teammate however, drove even harder, and ended up scooping up a slew of penalties. He first tangled with Perez, then got a drive through for it, before he was done for speeding whilst doing said drive through, then gets a time penalty on top of that.

Marcus Ericsson is the last driver in the points. Sauber was openly displeased with their grid slots on social media, so for their drivers to finish P10 and 11 must have been a relief for the Swiss team. Despite the Ferrari powerunit, the car seems to lack pace in relation to their rivals.

Both Massa and Bottas have been victims of either crashes or penalties. The start of the race was aborted as Massa did not slot into the grid slot properly. The penalty really hurt him, relegating him well down the order, and he never recovered from it. Bottas looked strong for a top 10 finish, until Verstappen tangled with him, causing a puncture and thus, losing a lot of positions.

Both Manor Marussias finished, with Merhi leading Stevens.

Both Force Indias retired, Hulkenburg due to a crash caused by a failed front wing, and Perez due to accident damage.

Pictures used for illustration purposes only.

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